How I was almost seduced by the Windows Phone

Considering switching from iPhone to Windows Phone? Here's my hands-on experience.

What I love about the Windows Phone.
I opted for a Nokia 920 in cyan. It's the most fully featured Windows Phone.

Live tiles
Customizing
Reading
Browsing

Notifications

On the iPhone if you've missed several text messages or notifications, as soon as you hit the power/home button again it displays a scrollable list of complete messages for everything you missed. On the Windows Phone you only see a partial message displayed on top of the lock screen as it happens, and then if there are multiple missed messages it simply shows a chat bubble with a counter on the lock screen- this means several more swipes and clicks to determine what you've missed and whether it's important or not. It's a surprising fail.

Emails

Overall I felt Windows Phone did a better job on presentation except for the emails with images. Emails with images don't download by default and require you to click to download them for each email. WP also doesn't handle images attached to emails very well requiring a few clicks to get them to load and display. The experience gets to be annoying quickly.

Other experiences not ready: receiving meeting invitations, music playback

What's disappointing about going back to the iPhone

I'm finding returning to the "small screen" beyond frustrating now after having a taste for how things might have been on the Nokia 920. Maybe the iPhone 6 will remedy this with a larger display, but even if that is an option it's likely not an option until 2014.

Finally the "Finder" interface for the iPhone feels dated and I'm frustrated that innovation seems to be happening on other platforms and not my brand of choice. I'll try and bide my time until Johnny Ive introduces something that draws me out of the interface doldrums. Until then I've all seen the shape of things to come on the Windows Phone, surprisingly brands like Microsoft and Nokia are becoming the new revolutionaries in the smart phone wars, and I'm becoming far less the Apple zealot I used to be.

Abstract Illustration

Late in the year to be the first new piece of art, but it is. I seem to be plagued with obsessive visions of particle colliders in my head and I wish I knew what it all meant. Until then I'll have to be content to illustrate. Contact me if you're interested in this abstract art print, otherwise it's available online through my storefront on imagekind.

Moby Dick

Retro modern inspired abstract art illustration. See more at Billoneil.com

Abstract Nightmare

My latest creation — part cubism, part nightmare. And it all made sense earlier today. Get the mouse pad.

Pop Culture Abstract Painting

I originally painted the Batman and Robin infused "Eeek" in 2000 which measured 36 x 18. The painting eventually ended up with a close friend. After a few years I decided to create another more massive and epic version of Eeek (60 x 30). See my website for all my Batman paintings.

The new abstract painting took a few months — the big canvas just fueled my obsession to add more small details, pictograms, hidden riddles. I wanted to create different experiences up close and far away. And "Eeek 2" ended up being a hit in some of my gallery shows, even visitors at my home wanted to pose in front of it for photos...

Well it recently sold to couple in Sacramento, and based the photo from them it definitely looks cool in the new digs.

Retro Modern Abstracts show at Cafe Lulu

I'm setting up tonight for a show of some of my retro modern abstract prints at Cafe Lulu in Bayview. Here's a peek at some new pieces.

Finding Cubist Painting Inspirations

I've been thinking about painting, but doing other things instead. I'm really not procrastinating, I just haven't built up the inspiration critical mass yet. I do have a showing coming up at Cafe Lulu really soon though, although I think I'm going to do some kind of print show.

Anyhow this weekend instead of painting, I dug out my old Nikon CoolPix 995 digital camera, and even though I have "better" cameras it's really more fun using this one. I recently picked up a new wide angle lens for the camera and was anxious to experiment with it. So I did a little photo field-trip with the family at the Milwaukee Mitchell Park Domes. I think about half the people there also had camera, and as I imagined us all desperately hoping to get a unique and memorable shot it filled me with futility, and sucked the originality and joy from my idea. We strolled around anyhow. Amateur photographers jostling out of each other's way.

Personally I like the desert world the most, I don't know that I even fully understand why. It just makes me feel at ease. Nearing the end of the desert dome we parked ourselves in the little gazebo, and I abstractly started pointing my camera in different directions snapping random shots when I realized there was some amazing stuff above the gazebo roof. A massive cactus that had a wonderfully organic cubist feel. I guess it was a reminder to myself to be observant and aware.